Month: March 2022

SUMMARY

Role:

Guitarist

Intention (SMART Goal)

By April 15th, 2022 as part of my School of Rock class I will learn to play the first solo of the Pink Floyd song “Comfortably Numb”. I will attain this goal by following Guitarlessons365song’s tutoriaI and will know how to play the entire solo and have memorized all the notes for session 5 of this class.

PRE-PRODUCTION – INQUIRY

Leader(s) in the Field / Exemplary Work(s)

Tony Iommi was the guitarist for Black Sabbath. He also had a had solo career one of, in my opinion his best songs is war pigs by Black Sabbath.

Training Source(s)

Comfortably Numb first solo tutorial

SMART Goal Schedule

I will practice the first solo for Pink Floyd’s song Comfortably Numb every day and a bare minimum of 5 minutes a day.

PRODUCTION

SMART Goal Starting Point Evidence

Starting Smart Goal evidence

SMART Goal Ending Point Evidence

Finishing smart goal evidence

POST-PRODUCTION – REFLECTION

21st Century Skills

Ways of Thinking (Creativity, Innovation, Critical Thinking, Problem Solving)

I was creative and a critical thinker/problem solver because I was having trouble getting the pacing of the solo so I played it over and over again listening to the original song while playing and then eventually I got it right

Ways of Working (Communication & Collaboration)

I did not really work or collaborate with anyone since this was a solo project and I did not need assistance from anyone with the solo. Although I did ask for assistance with some Garage Band stuff

Tools for Working (Info & Media Literacy)

I listened to the original song and also used the tutorial mentioned earlier in the blog

Ways of Living in the World (Life & Career)

I used Garage Band for the first during these projects for the first time and knowing how to use Garage Band could help with know tools such as Logic Pro

Reactions to the Final Version

The critiques I received were all good Connor said “The effects that you used were big pog otherwise know as pretty cool

Self-Evaluation of Final Version

I think the final product turned out pretty well I think it resembles the original in the effects that I used as well as being the correct notes.

Grammar and Spelling

I used Grammarly

Editor

Connor

Cue	Notes
Contextual Interference	Making it more difficult so that you struggle it isn’t practice if its easy start slow and slowly build up getting faster and faster.
Desirable Difficulty	giving yourself the challenge to make it harder everyone has their own desirable difficulty
Count with Metronome	metronome makes it more difficult but makes it so you get it engrained
Practice	5 to 10 minutes daily

Summary

Summary

The Microphone auditions project was a a project in which you spoke into a bunch of different microphones and compared them to each other and which one you thought sounded best with your voice.

Microphone Audition Podcast

Microphone project

My Favorite Microphone

My favorite microphone was the Sennheiser e609. This was my favorite because I think it fit with my voice the most, and it also says that it was made to record guitar cabinets which is something I need as well.

Sennheiser e609

• The e609 is a super-cardioid dynamic microphone
• Designed for recording guitar cabinets face-on and extremely close to the source
• Provides isolation from other onstage signals
• Also suitable for recording drums, especially toms
• Read more: http://recordinghacks.com/microphones/Sennheiser/e906
• Watch the overview video for guitar amp recording

Terms and Concepts

•  Microphones
  • Dynamic – The sound waves themselves create the electrical signal by moving the membrane diaphragm of the microphone. Very popular and very well known. It is good for the low and middle range, NOT the high range.
  • Condenser – The membrane has an electrical current that waits for sound. When the sound waves hit it, it responds instantly. They are all over the place, but they need an electrical charge {amplifier} from something {battery}.
• Polar Patterns
  • Omni – Picks sound up from all directions equally. This is used for interviews because it can pick up more than one person, without having to have two separate mics.
  • Cardioid – Picks up one half of the microphone, also known as a ‘directional mic’. Most sensitive in the front, about 180 degrees. Shaped like a heart.
  • Bi-directional – ‘Figure of 8’, picks the front and behind of the mic, but the 90-degree angle on both sides does not get picked up.
• Transduction – Converts one form of energy to another.
• Voltage – An electric force or a potential difference shown in volts.
• Phantom Power – Activates the condenser in a microphone. DC powered mostly between 12 and 48 DC voltages.
• Sensitivity – Voltage at its known sound level. Can be called by its voltage or decibels. A higher number means more sensitivity, everything is mostly in negatives. Sound pressure.
• Frequency Response – The range of sound the microphone can produce and how sensitive it is within the range. You want it nice and flat.
• Transient – A variation in current, voltage, or frequency.
• Placement – Placement of the microphone is key, depending on the sounds you want, it can just be the distance from you or the instrument from the microphone. This part of the microphone can affect others emotionally in a way to connect with the audience.
• Proximity Effect – Decreased sensitivity to low mics, which reduces background noise and vibration and counteracts when used very close to the source.
• Output – A place where the sound leaves the system.
• Characteristics – This is the Relative Response and Frequency measured in a Hertz graph to show how good or bad the microphone is. This can show the quality of the mic.
• Noise Rating – The signal (sound source) to noise ratio measured in decibels (dB). Noise is any sound in the background you don’t want. Electricity vibrates at 60dB so you want the ratio of the signal and noise to be higher than that. Preferably 90dB or higher.
• Hardware
  • Clips – A clip is something that you use to hold a microphone on something {for example – stand }, but, using the wrong kind of clips can affect the performance, make sure it is tight so it has the correct effect.
  • Stands – This ties in with a clip, this is what the clip will connect to. This keeps the microphone towards the object you want to hear without having to hold it or keep it still.
  • Windscreen – Something that covers and protects the microphone, mostly a foamy material.
  • Direct Box – A device used to connect an instrument directly into the audio mixer.

What I Learned and Problems I Solved

I learned a little more about microphones how to use them and which ones I like and should possibly buy. I also learned how to mix voice a little bit and experimented a little bit with voice effects.

Summary

I made a composition using soundtrap, I recorded guitar and bass, and programmed drums. I didn’t use a song as a base since Mr Leduc said I could.

Audio File Formats and Definitions

AIFF (Audio Interchange File Format): stores standard CD-quality audio; similar to WAV (Higher Quality)

WAV (Waveform Audio File Format): CD audio; can be saved with different sampling and bit rates; similar to AIFF (Higher Quality)

MP3 (Audio File): Used to store audiobooks and music on a hard drive; Close to CD-quality sound; the higher quality sound comes from higher bit rates which also take up more storage space

MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface): music data: notes played, when notes are played, how long each note is played, and the velocity of each note played; used to be able to exchange and use information between software and hardware programs; no actual audio data

All the audio file format information is found at: fileinfo.com

Song Used As Template

didn’t use a song because mr leduc said I could

GarageBand Tracks

My Composition

Only till 2:05 minutes link

Feedback

What I Learned & Problems I Solved

I learned how to program drums better in soundtrap that fit better with the rest of the music as well as mixing the guitar and base better. A problem I had was that I was having trouble with making two parts of the songs flow together but I think I succeeded in making the transitions smooth/not smooth depending on what I needed.